Comprehension
Primary Level
I remember doing a great number of comprehensions at school, in a variety of subjects, and finding them almost always boring and largely meaningless. Obviously, they do serve a purpose in that they can help test whether or not the pupil has reached the next level of reading proficiency: to read closely and understand clearly what is written on the page in front of him. But if you have been in the habit of discussing reading material with your child from an early age, you've already been doing 'comprehensions' of a sort: you have asked him questions to check his understanding of the text - you have simply done this orally rather than in written form.
Comprehension questions are widely used in schools in a variety of subjects from quite an early age. I suppose this is because they are an easy vehicle for writing practice, and because it is impossible for a teacher to know that 30 children have understood a text: she cannot go around and ask each one individually! You, as a parent, can do this and so written comprehensions need not play such a large part in your curriculum, at least at primary level. This saves you having to invest in workbooks which test the most basic comprehension skills (who said this? what colour was the book? How many cars were there in the street? and so on), and helps you avoid giving your children work which is not only often boring but is unlikely to advance their English skills much at all.
Middle and Secondary level
For older children, comprehensions can serve more of a purpose inasmuch as they can introduce a child to the more subtle aspects of writing. Good comprehensions will stretch a child to look beyond the obvious to find implicit themes, hidden meanings and oblique references. Likewise, they will have a strong emphasis on language analysis (why does the writer use this word? What other words might he have used? Why is this phrase so striking and memorable?), and this is an area which does need a good deal of practice as it possesses a vocabulary and type of questioning all of its own (see the language analysis page for more ideas). Understanding what a writer is saying is only the first level of reading comprehension: trying to explain how the writer uses language and structure to achieve his effects is far more challenging. These are the kinds of skills you'll need to focus more on as you approach GCSE level (they are also essential if your child intends to sit an English Literature exam).
Most secondary level English texts will have some work on comprehension, but if you want a book specifically on this subject, this one is not too bad: Comprehension to 14 by Geoff Barton. The older edition is much cheaper and, as one Amazon reviewer writes, has some advantages over the newest offering: "This older edition provides an excellent selection of texts, in my opinion. They are very classical, and may not appeal to everyone, but provide food for thought for gifted or interested children. Unfortunately the new edition of the book panders to mediocrity." I can't quite agree on describing the chosen texts as 'classical': the section on drama, for example, includes a TV sketch from French and Saunders and a rather boring excerpt from an Inspector Morse episode, and many of the offerings in the drama and non-fiction sections are contemporary. Still, if you are selective there are some very useful exercises here, including some quite thought provoking extension exercises, mainly in the prose and poetry sections. As ever, use the textbook selectively (here, I use most of the fiction exercises, skip the drama section completely, use a few of the poems and about half of the non fiction section).
Another suggestion for ages 11+ is Developing Comprehension Skills by David Kitchen. I haven't used this yet but hope to review it soon. The book which precedes this - Developing Basic Comprehension Skills - might be more suited to either a younger child or a child who had no experience of written comprehension.
Primary Level
I remember doing a great number of comprehensions at school, in a variety of subjects, and finding them almost always boring and largely meaningless. Obviously, they do serve a purpose in that they can help test whether or not the pupil has reached the next level of reading proficiency: to read closely and understand clearly what is written on the page in front of him. But if you have been in the habit of discussing reading material with your child from an early age, you've already been doing 'comprehensions' of a sort: you have asked him questions to check his understanding of the text - you have simply done this orally rather than in written form.
Comprehension questions are widely used in schools in a variety of subjects from quite an early age. I suppose this is because they are an easy vehicle for writing practice, and because it is impossible for a teacher to know that 30 children have understood a text: she cannot go around and ask each one individually! You, as a parent, can do this and so written comprehensions need not play such a large part in your curriculum, at least at primary level. This saves you having to invest in workbooks which test the most basic comprehension skills (who said this? what colour was the book? How many cars were there in the street? and so on), and helps you avoid giving your children work which is not only often boring but is unlikely to advance their English skills much at all.
Middle and Secondary level
For older children, comprehensions can serve more of a purpose inasmuch as they can introduce a child to the more subtle aspects of writing. Good comprehensions will stretch a child to look beyond the obvious to find implicit themes, hidden meanings and oblique references. Likewise, they will have a strong emphasis on language analysis (why does the writer use this word? What other words might he have used? Why is this phrase so striking and memorable?), and this is an area which does need a good deal of practice as it possesses a vocabulary and type of questioning all of its own (see the language analysis page for more ideas). Understanding what a writer is saying is only the first level of reading comprehension: trying to explain how the writer uses language and structure to achieve his effects is far more challenging. These are the kinds of skills you'll need to focus more on as you approach GCSE level (they are also essential if your child intends to sit an English Literature exam).
Most secondary level English texts will have some work on comprehension, but if you want a book specifically on this subject, this one is not too bad: Comprehension to 14 by Geoff Barton. The older edition is much cheaper and, as one Amazon reviewer writes, has some advantages over the newest offering: "This older edition provides an excellent selection of texts, in my opinion. They are very classical, and may not appeal to everyone, but provide food for thought for gifted or interested children. Unfortunately the new edition of the book panders to mediocrity." I can't quite agree on describing the chosen texts as 'classical': the section on drama, for example, includes a TV sketch from French and Saunders and a rather boring excerpt from an Inspector Morse episode, and many of the offerings in the drama and non-fiction sections are contemporary. Still, if you are selective there are some very useful exercises here, including some quite thought provoking extension exercises, mainly in the prose and poetry sections. As ever, use the textbook selectively (here, I use most of the fiction exercises, skip the drama section completely, use a few of the poems and about half of the non fiction section).
Another suggestion for ages 11+ is Developing Comprehension Skills by David Kitchen. I haven't used this yet but hope to review it soon. The book which precedes this - Developing Basic Comprehension Skills - might be more suited to either a younger child or a child who had no experience of written comprehension.